


I Thought I Loved You Then

by ash_mcj



Series: Teen Wolf Songfics [5]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Beacon Hills Preserve (Teen Wolf), Derek Hale Deserves Nice Things, F/M, Fluff, Love at First Sight, Marriage Proposal, Mates, Piggyback Ride, Secret Relationship, Songfic, Stiles Stilinski Has a Sister, Werewolf Mates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:21:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26675083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ash_mcj/pseuds/ash_mcj
Summary: When Derek Hale meets you, he realizes that you're his mate--which is a huge problem, since your younger brother Stiles is extremely protective and adamantly against you being involved in the supernatural world. The two of you start seeing each other in secret and Derek can't help but fall more in love with you as time goes on, even when he doesn't think you could possibly mean more to him.[Derek/Reader fluff with marriage proposal at the end]
Relationships: Derek Hale/Reader, Derek Hale/You
Series: Teen Wolf Songfics [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1928704
Comments: 6
Kudos: 76





	I Thought I Loved You Then

**Author's Note:**

> Songfic to "Then" by Brad Paisley

_I remember, trying not to stare, the night that I first met you  
_ _You had me mesmerized_

When Scott had called a pack meeting that night, Derek was annoyed. Since the reasoning behind the meeting was left out of the message, he knew it would be something dumb. Whenever there was an _actual_ reason to meet up, Scott would always include that it was extremely important and touch on what it would be about to stress the need for them all to show up. He was pretty sure they were just meeting up to hang out--which was not Derek’s choice way of spending his Friday night. He hated people.

He pulled up to the Stilinski house, where Scott had told them to meet for whatever reason. If Scott was the alpha, he was not sure why they were meeting at Stiles’ house. He parked the car and headed up to the front door, where he could smell and hear that the rest of the pack was already inside.

“Nice of you to show up thirty minutes late,” Stiles greeted him after he opened the door to let the werewolf in.

“I wasn’t gonna come at all.”

“Thanks for coming, Derek,” Scott told him with a smile, shooting a warning look at Stiles to play nice.

Kira, Allison, and Lydia were seated on the couch, talking excitedly about something Derek did not care enough to figure out, and Issac was sitting at one of the three wooden chairs that Derek assumed he, Scott, and Stiles had pulled in from the kitchen. Not wanting to bother figuring out where to sit, he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, waiting for Scott to explain why a pack meeting was necessary.

Before Scott had the chance to, however, footsteps were heard coming down the stairs.

“I thought your dad was at work?” Isaac asked curiously, craning his neck to look at the stairs.

When you appeared in the living room, you froze, looking around at the group of friends your younger brother had managed to acquire. You took the earbuds out of your ears and raised an eyebrow at Stiles, who looked extremely agitated by your appearance.

“What are you doing here?” Stiles asked you.

“I live here,” You answered. “Does Dad know you’re having a...party?”

“Not a party,” Derek grumbled, eyes on the floor as he continued debating with himself if he should just walk out. Your eyes flitted to him and you took in his familiar features, which caused your heart rate to speed up just slightly.

“I didn’t know you were friends with Derek Hale,” You said. Derek looked up at you curiously, glancing down at your chest for a second in response to hearing your heart change. Were you scared, or...something else?

“You know me?”

“Not really.” You shrugged. Of course you would look like a complete weirdo to your old childhood crush. You had not seen him since high school, when he was the cocky, guarded basketball player, but this man seemed to carry a much more serious and collected vibe. “We were in the same grade. I saw you around school and stuff.”

As Derek’s hard, green eyes seemed to analyze your face, you felt yourself blush.

“Y/N, can you go upstairs or leave or something?” Stiles asked, physically turning you around by your shoulders and pushing you out of the room. You had no idea about the supernatural world, since Stiles absolutely forbade anyone from telling you in hopes of keeping you safe.

You had originally come down to get food, but that thought seemed to be gone as you felt Derek’s eyes on you. You had always been drawn to him, but he was always busy with sports or other girls. You were pretty sure he had never even seen you before tonight, despite having shared several classes with you while going to school together all your lives until the fire.

Once you were back upstairs, Stiles turned to look at Derek, who seemed in a daze, watching the stairs. Something had shifted in him when he locked eyes with you and he was rather confused about it. He had never felt so _drawn_ to someone for seemingly no reason before. Sure, you were beautiful, but he felt like it was more than that. Every cell in his body was urging him to chase after you, but he held himself back.

“Derek,” Stiles said, snapping his fingers in front of his face and causing the werewolf to growl and bare his teeth in warning. Stiles retracted his hand, but kept his glare. “No.”

“No what?”

“No to whatever that was. Stay away from my sister.”

“It was nothing,” Derek lied, leaning back against the wall again. “Was there a meaning for this pack thing or is the whole plan to just stand around together?”

Derek was right: the meeting was an excuse to hang out. He wanted to be mad, but he could not bring himself to feel anything other than curiosity towards the pull he felt inside his chest. It was almost like a stretched rubber band and he knew that the other end of it was you.

 _And three weeks later, in the front porch light  
_ _Taking forty-five minutes to kiss goodnight  
_ _I hadn't told you yet  
_ _But I thought I loved you then_

Derek sat in his black Chevy Camaro at the end of the Stilinski’s street, the way he had been doing for the past two weeks since deciding to go behind the pack’s back to see you. He could not get you out of his head and really, he deserved a medal for staying away for an entire week since he felt the bond form. He had shown up at your window one night and by some miracle, you did not immediately call the police on him. You opened your window and he asked if you wanted to go for a ride--and the absolute _last_ answer on your mind was no, so you went. Since then, you had been sneaking out of your house every night to spend time with him.

It was nearing ten, when he heard the _tap tap_ on his car window and he unlocked the door to let you in. You got in and immediately leaned over the center console to give him a chaste kiss, before the car sped off towards the woods, which had become your spot you would go to together.

As soon as Derek parked his car at the Preserve, the two of you got out and you immediately went to his side, taking his hand in yours. The two of you had never talked about it, but Derek figured you felt the pull towards him as well, with how often he found you touching him when you were together. When you were walking, your hand was either holding his or it was gripping his bicep. When you were talking, you were typically tracing your fingers over his arms and chest or sneaking in light kisses every few sentences. When he was driving, your hand was usually resting on his thigh. He had never been one for affection--it had always made him very uncomfortable--but it was different with you. Whenever the two of you touched, that strange pull would diminish and he felt a part of his chest become fulfilled where he had never known he felt empty before. Now, when you were apart, it was all he could focus on.

The two of you walked into the woods and wandered around aimlessly for a while. There was no real destination, since the only reason you were there was so the two of you could spend time with each other without Stiles, Scott, and the rest of his nosey friends knowing.

“I don’t think we’ve gone this far in before...do you know the way back?” You asked him, looking around at the trees. They all looked the same to you--it was just as likely that you could be only a few steps away from the road or possibly two miles from it.

“Yeah, I know these woods pretty well,” Derek assured you, squeezing your hand. “You aren’t scared of getting lost, are you?”

“No, but if I _was_ , it would be understandable. Who knows what animals could be out here?”

“I’ll protect you,” Derek promised, letting go of your hand to wrap his arm around you and pull you into his side. The closer, the better.

“From wolves and mountain lions?” You joked.

“From anything,” Derek said honestly, causing your stomach to flutter. “According to your brother, there are no wolves in California.”

“Do you think animals would eat us if we sat down for a second? My legs are dead--we’ve been walking for like an hour now. Believe it or not, I haven’t done all that much exercise since high school PE a year ago.”

“I could carry you,” Derek offered.

“I couldn’t ask you to do that--your knees would probably die,” You declined.

“Babe, if I can promise you anything, I promise you won’t break me. Believe it or not, I work out quite a bit and I’m pretty good in the strength and endurance department.”

You felt your cheeks heat up and shyly chewed your lower lip for a moment, before asking him, “Is this you telling me you’ve got good stamina?”

Derek laughed as he looked down at you affectionately. You had not heard him laugh all that many times, but you loved hearing it when it would come out here and there. It was slightly higher than his appearance would suggest and made him seem a little more like that teenager he had been before he lost his family. You remembered hearing that laugh often around school when he would joke around with his friends.

“Hop on,” Derek told you, turning his back to you and squatting a bit.

“You’re serious?”

“Yes!”

You jumped up onto his back and wrapped your legs around his waist. He hooked his hands under your thighs and pulled you up more to situate you more comfortably on his back.

“Dying yet?” You asked him.

“Not at all...just don’t choke me, okay?”

You opened your mouth to ask what he meant, but he took off running. You almost wrapped your arms around his neck to hold on, but remembered at the last second that you were not supposed to do that and settled for gripping onto his shoulders instead. You were surprised that he was able to run so easily, as if you were not even on his back at all.

“What are you doing?!” You giggled.

“Carrying you back to the car,” He answered, a smile across his face as he listened to your laughter.

After a few minutes, he made it out of the woods and set you back on your feet. He was breathing heavily, but did not seem half as tired as you thought he would be after running what must have been a mile with you on his back.

“Okay, I’m impressed,” You admitted, hooking your fingers into the belt loops on his jeans and pulling him towards you. He let you move him forward and then continued the motion until he had backed you against his car.

“I have a few impressive qualities.”

“Like your modesty?” You quipped.

He grinned and leaned in to press his lips against yours. Your hands moved around him and slipped under his shirt to scratch lightly at the skin on his back, eliciting what almost sounded like a faint growl. Whatever it was, you _really_ liked it.

He nipped your lower lip, prompting you to open your mouth enough for him to deepen the kiss and you readily complied. One hand twisted into your hair, while the other was placed on your waist. The hand lightly slid further down to your thigh and pulled it up over his hip. Getting the idea, you jumped up and he secured your legs around his waist, then pushed your back against the car again and licked a stripe up the side of your neck.

Suddenly, Derek’s head snapped up and he looked to the right, where Scott was standing with his mouth agape and eyes looking between the two of you disbelievingly. The absence of Derek’s mouth on your neck caused you to look at your younger brother’s best friend in annoyance.

“Seriously, Scott? What the hell are you doing here?” You asked him.

“Stiles knows you’ve been leaving every night and wanted me to find out what you were doing,” Scott revealed, rubbing he back of his head uncomfortably.

“Derek. That’s who I’m doing and what you're interrupting,” You answered bluntly, earning a chuckle from the man still holding you, which he stifled against your shoulder. “Does my idiotic _younger_ brother that has no right to be creeping on my _adult_ private life have any more questions?”

“Uh, no,” Scott shook his head. “Sorry.”

“Bye, Scott,” Derek told him, a hard edge to his voice.

Scott gave an awkward wave, before picking his bike up off the ground and mounting it.

Derek set you down and said, “Looks like the secret is out.”

“Looks like we’re going public,” You agreed. “Are you okay with that?”

“Am I okay with having everyone know someone as gorgeous and amazing as you actually wants me? Yes. I’m very okay with that.”

“Good,” You smiled. “I should probably get home so I can kill Stiles.”

“If you need help hiding the body, let me know,” Derek said as he opened your door for you.

The drive back to the Stilinski house was short and Derek parked right in front of your house, since he no longer had to hide by parking down the street. You got out of the car and were surprised to see that he was getting out, too.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m walking you to the door,” Derek shrugged, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “That’s what boyfriends do, right?”

“ _Boyfriend_? You want to be _my_ boyfriend?”

“If the secret’s out, I’d like everyone to know you’re my girlfriend. That way I’ll have the right to kick any guys’ asses that try to hit on you.”

“I’d like that, too.”

When the two of you made it to your front porch, Derek asked, “Why do you seem so shocked that I’d want you to be my girlfriend?”

“I just can’t believe you’d want to be official with me, when there are way prettier girls in Beacon Hills. Honestly, almost everyone in this town could be actors or something. I’m sure a lot of girls would want a piece of the tall, dark and handsome man with mysterious green eyes and muscles that is Derek Hale.”

“Y/N, you are the only girl I see,” Derek whispered as his hands cradled the back of your head and pulled you in for another heated kiss, which you readily returned and pulled him closer against you. It was nowhere near as long as you wanted, though, when Derek pulled away. “Stiles is watching us from the window.”

“Do you have a shovel?”

 _And now you're my whole life  
_ _Now you're my whole world  
_ _I just can't believe the way I feel about you, girl  
_ _We've come so far since that day  
_ _And I thought I loved you then_

You were about to get into bed for the night, when you heard a light _tap tap_ on your window. You hesitantly went over and froze when you saw the shadowy figure of a man crouched on your roof. Once your mind reasoned that it had to be Derek--since he was the only one who had ever done this before--you opened the window. He all but fell into the room in his hurry to get inside and pulled you into his chest. He immediately buried his face in the crook of your neck and inhaled deeply, which caught you off guard. You were not even expecting Derek to randomly show up at your window--let alone show up just to smell you.

“Is everything okay?” You asked, hugging him back.

“Yeah,” Derek answered in a voice that was slightly deeper and rougher sounding than usual, which made you feel uneasy. His breathing seemed labored, as well, and you could feel a rumbling in his chest with every exhale he made. “I needed to be here with you.”

“I love when you’re here...but I thought you said you were busy tonight?”

Derek pulled away just enough to be able to look down at your face, but still kept his arms securely around you. “Y/N, I need to tell you something. Scott and Stiles don’t want you knowing, but I can’t keep this from you anymore because I need you to understand...I can’t spend any more full moons away from you. My instincts...won’t allow it. I had Scott chain me up because the drive was so strong to come to you, but I broke out.”

“I’m confused,” You admitted, unsure of where this conversation was headed. Scott and Stiles were keeping things from you? Unsurprising. Scott chained Derek up and Derek busted out of his restraints to come to your window in the middle of the night? Slightly more surprising.

“I’m saying this wrong,” Derek sighed, taking a step away and putting his face in his hands. “I just...I don’t want to scare you...but I _need_ you to understand who I am. _What_ I am.”

“You can tell me anything,” You assured him while taking his hands in yours. He was obviously stressed and you noticed a thin layer of sweat over his face and neck.

“I’m a werewolf,” Derek blurted out. “So are Scott and Isaac. Scott is the Alpha--like, the leader--and Isaac and I are his betas. The girls and Stiles are part of the pack, too, but they aren’t werewolves.”

“What do you mean you’re a werewolf? Werewolves don’t... _exist_. They’re from stories and stuff,” You said, trying to judge if he was joking or not.

“We do exist. Most of my family were werewolves--that’s why our house was burned down. It was done by werewolf hunters.”

“You don’t look like a werewolf.” You reasoned. “It’s a full moon--shouldn't you be all wolfy or something?”

“I’m usually in control enough to hold my shift back, but it’s... _difficult_ right now, because my body knows I can protect you better in that form. I was shifted outside, but I forced myself to go back to normal so you wouldn’t see a monster outside your window and freak out. The full moon makes my instincts and... _primal urges_...stronger. I didn’t even realize I had gotten loose until I was across the street. I just knew I needed to get to you so I could protect my mate and suddenly I was here.”

“Can you show me?” You asked. Part of you was curious, and the other part just wanted to make sure that you didn’t blindly fall into a prank or something and look like an idiot. “You said you were fighting it...if you shift, will you attack me or something?”

“Never,” Derek told her seriously. “For werewolves, protecting their mate is the most important thing to them--they can’t hurt them. It goes against all of their instincts. I can’t hurt you.”

“I want to see, then.”

“Are you sure?”

You nodded and Derek walked over to the window, looking out at the full moon. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting the temptation of the moonlight wash over him. When he opened his eyes again, he could see them glowing blue in the reflection of the glass panels.

Derek turned and the sight of him took you completely by surprise. You were not sure what you were expecting, but it was not... _this_. His face had morphed a great deal, yet you could still see your Derek clearly. His nose was wider, his forehead protruded slightly, and his sideburns grew thicker and connected to his beard. His lips were parted, giving you partial view of what appeared to be fangs, which were much longer and sharper than his normal teeth. The most jarring difference in his appearance, though, was the glowing blue eyes that had replaced his usual green ones.

You couldn’t help but reach out to caress the side of his face in awe. There was something almost _beautiful_ about the way the animal and human features were mixed, along with the mesmerizing glow of his shifted eyes. Your hand moved across the side of his head and your hand brushed against a pointed, elongated ear. This creature was nothing like your Derek, yet he was. His face was different, but there was still something so inherently _Derek_ about him--the way he smelled, the way he felt, the way he was looking at you--that you were not even scared. You moved your hand to trace your thumb over his lips and gently pulled his lower lip down to get a better view of his fangs. He slowly reached up and covered your hand with his, and you noticed the sharp claws attached to each of his fingers.

“Wow,” You whispered, analyzing his face. “I don’t know if it’s disrespectful or something to say this, but...it’s kinda hot. The teeth, the claws...the eyes.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Is that weird?”

You watched as Derek’s features morphed back to normal and he chuckled lightly while looking at you in relief. “I’m glad you aren’t scared of me. I don’t know what I’d do, if you were.”

“Well, now you don’t need to worry about it. Thanks for telling me.”

“Scott and Stiles are going to kill me.”

“I’ll deal with them.”

“If I haven’t already ruined your night...do you think I could stay here with you? If you say no, I’m just going to sit on your roof--I can’t physically leave you unprotected right now. My instincts have never been so strong in my life and I have no idea how to dial them down right now.”

“I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to sleep alone again, now that I know there are literal werewolves and God knows what else running around out there,” You laughed, taking him by the hand and pulling him towards your bed.

“You never have to sleep alone again, if you don’t want to,” Derek told you. He laid on your bed and put one arm out to the side to give you room to cuddle up to him. You smiled and curled into his side, before pulling the blankets up over the two of you and situating your head onto his chest. His hand moved to your hair and absent-mindedly played with it as you relaxed into his scent and heartbeat.

“Derek?” You whispered hesitantly. “I...I love you. I just wanted you to know.”

“I love you, too,” He hummed, kissing the top of your head.

_And I remember, going back to right where I first met you,  
_ _You were so surprised  
_ _There were people around, but I didn't care  
_ _I got down on one knee right there and once again,  
_ _I thought I loved you then_

Stiles was furious when he found out that Derek told you about the supernatural world, but you were quick to shut him up with a lecture about keeping things from you. How were you supposed to help protect him, when you were left out of the loop? He tried to argue that he was protecting you, but you reminded him that you were are supposed to protect _each other_ and he did not have much of an argument against that.

So, you were invited to Pack Meetings after that. Scott was hesitant at first, because of the scary nature of the things they generally talked about, but since the Stilinski living room had somehow become the unofficial Pack Meeting headquarters over the past several months, he could not keep you from them.

“Y/N, can you order a couple pizzas?” Stiles asked as soon as you walked into the living room to see most of the pack looking at you hopefully. “I don’t have enough on my debit card right now. Scott and Isaac don’t get paid until next week, but Lydia and Derek have a little cash on them.”

“How many pizzas?” You asked, taking your phone out of your pocket to check your account balance.

“Well, Allison and Kira aren’t here, so maybe only like…” Stiles trailed off, looking around the room to count how many people they had. “Maybe five?”

“Five?” You scoffed. “You want to borrow like $60 from me?”

“You’re my big sister--you’re supposed to feed me when Dad’s not home.” Stiles tried, pouting childishly. You smacked him upside the head, causing several of his friends to laugh at him.

“How old are you, Stiles-- _five_?”

You handed him your debit card nonetheless and he grinned triumphantly.

“Such a great big sister.” Derek joked, walking up to you. You rolled your eyes and pulled him into a kiss, which earned some disgusted noises from the boys in the room. You and Derek simultaneously flipped them off and Lydia giggled.

“You guys are cute. Who knew Derek Hale could actually care about someone?”

“I don’t understand why you guys can't imagine this, but I _can_ feel things.”

“I’m still convinced that something has taken over your body.” Stiles mumbled as he typed in their order to the Dominos app.

“Can we wait to talk about whatever depressing thing we're probably addressing today until the pizza gets here?" Lydia requested, looking at her nail polish. "I can’t deal with it without food.”

“Yeah, I wanna eat first, too.” Scott agreed.

“I have something to say before we get distracted eating and dealing with pack shit--and if I don't say it now, I'm going to have an anxiety attack or something.” Derek announced, glancing around the room at the others before locking eyes with you. “Well, to _ask_.”

Derek reached into his leather jacket and pulled out a small black box, before dropping down to one knee and taking one of your hands in his.

“Derek, are you...?” You whispered, trying to figure out if this was going in the direction you thought it was.

“You better be tying your shoe.” Stiles warned, but Scott swatted his arm to shut him up.

“I wasn’t sure how to do this, but I figured the best place to ask would be surrounded by our family--the pack--and in the place where our mate bond formed.” Derek said, before opening the box to reveal a beautiful ring. The band was rose gold with small white diamonds encrusted into it, and a circular pink morganite center stone. “I’m so in love with you, Y/N Stilinski. I never thought I would be able to say those words to anyone or that I would find love and trust in someone enough to want to spend my life with them. You’re my mate, my anchor, my person. You mean so much to me that I'm willing to have _Stiles_ \--and unofficially, Scott--as my brother-in-laws. Will you marry me?”

“Yes, of course,” You said, pulling him up to his feet and throwing your arms around him. Derek held you tightly, pressing a kiss to the side of your head and smiling against your hair.

“Congrats!” Lydia squealed, shaking Isaac’s arm in excitement. Isaac and Scott both beamed at the embracing couple, while Stiles was looking at his sister with a conflicted expression.

You pulled away from Derek and he slid the ring onto your finger. It was a perfect fit and looked amazing against your skin tone.

Stiles walked over and tapped your arm, causing you to divert your attention away from the ring to look at him. He opened his mouth to tell you why he didn't think this would be a good idea, but paused when he noticed that you looked happier than he had ever seen you. He looked over at Derek, who was watching you with eyes full of adoration, and nodded to himself. He held his arms out to you and you smiled, before hugging him back tightly.

“If he hurts you, I know several ways to kill a werewolf.” Stiles whispered in your ear, knowing damn well that Derek could hear him.

“I’ll let you know.” You laughed as you pulled away from him.

Derek offered his hand to Stiles and he took it with more force than he needed to, which prompted Derek to smirk and squeeze harder, eliciting a small squeak from your brother.

Leave it to the very _human_ Stiles Stilinski to try to intimidate a werewolf.

“No werewolf babies anytime soon.” Stiles told Derek.

“What exactly does ‘soon’ mean? How long is that?” You asked, causing Stiles to glare at the both of you.

“ _No_.” Stiles declared. “No babies _ever_ \--don’t even think about it!”

Derek had never thought he would want kids, but with you...he wanted everything.

_And I can just see you, with a baby on the way  
_ _And I can just see you, when your hair is turning gray  
_ _What I can't see is how I'm ever gonna love you more  
_ _But I've said that before_

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know if you liked this by commenting/leaving kudos!


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